I am not a feminist. Those who hear me say this are usually either disappointed and/or offended. “You just don’t know what feminism is!” they holler, while choking me with the definition of feminism found in every dictionary.

Do I believe in the value and equality of every man and woman? Yes I do. That does not make me a feminist. Feminism does not and cannot call “shot gun” on the seat of equality. The value of every man and woman is not defined by any man made movement; it is a truth of God. It was formed the moment we were created by the love of our creator. Our value is beyond our comprehension, because we cannot fathom how deep God’s love is for us.

What is feminism; is it truly the movement towards the equality of men and women? You can know what something is, by the ground it stands on. We know the Catholic Church is the truth because it was formed by Christ, on the rock of St. Peter. The foundation of feminism has been accused as a movement that shows hatred towards men, but what few recognize is that the movement is in reality the very hatred of women.

First, let us observe woman in her nature, as a whole. It would be difficult to get a general idea of women as a whole because we are all so unique, with our God-given talents and gifts. We can say that all women share a relationship to what is feminine; to what is our nature as women. As most men can tell you, we are still a complex mystery in our nature, from our ability to love and forgive, to our ability to bear pain and suffering, and our selflessness and healing we provide to our loved ones and communities.

All women, even women called to the religious life, are mothers. Even the Church, not an individual human being, has qualities of a Mother.

“The Church, ‘the pillar and bulwark of the truth,’ faithfully guards ‘the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.’ She guards the memory of Christ’s words; it is she who from generation to generation hands on the apostles’ confession of faith. As a mother who teaches her children to speak and so to understand and communicate, the Church our Mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith”.

–Catechism of the Catholic Church, 171.

For in all women’s hearts is the ability to love and care for human beings, both in a spiritual mother who is called to religious life, and to the mother who is called to care for the human beings she bore or wedded in her house hold. It is our divine gift to be the caretakers of souls, and to love so unselfishly. The love of a mother is considered to be the closest to the love that God has for us that human beings can feel.

In the feminist movement however, procreation is regarded as a natural evil. Fertility is to feminists, as original sin is to mankind. To the feminist mind, procreation and fertility bind women unnaturally to the role of mother and caretaker. As women we are all called to be mothers, or spiritual mothers, but within feminism all women are to reject their very being, their nature as expressed in fertility and motherhood, through any means, including the killing of their own offspring. Fertility, our most feminine aspect, is treated as a hereditary disease. To the feminism movement we are born broken; our wombs are treated as a plague, and we must be medicated or surgically sterilized in order to gain freedom from ourselves. On the contrary, feminism liberates women the same as chopping off my arms and legs liberates my body.

To submit to our nature as wholly and completely feminine, to accept both our fertility, and all the individual qualities we are blessed with, is viewed as a weakness within the feminist movement. Not only does feminism hate women and their very nature, it elevates the status of men as something women should aspire to become. It tells us we can only be viewed as equal when we have destroyed who we are and become men. In our careers, in our lives and even with the nature of our bodies, we must become men. It would have us believe that only by the destruction of our femininity, our nature, and ourselves do we have power.

As Catholics we are aware that the foundation of society is the family, and that it is our duty to protect marriage and family life:

“The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society,”

— Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2207.

Feminists see marriage not as the strengthening of society, but as a handicap to women and equality, whereas sexual freedom is regarded as the highest “virtue” to feminists, under the destruction of femininity and elevation of man. Sexual freedom has done nothing for either men or women. It has treated both men and women as objects to take our personal sexual gratification from. It is the destruction of the dignity of persons, men, women, and even children, whose lives are stolen to secure this “sexual freedom”.

Feminism as a movement must be abandoned. It cannot be revived, for at its core is hatred for the very nature of women. In order for women and men to be truly equal, they must be accepted with dignity in their true nature. We cannot claim that a movement stands for the equality of women while it destroys not only them but also all of society. As Christians, we must still fight for the value and equality of every human being, as seen in the eyes of God our creator.

I believe in the equality of men and women. As for the feminists who still believe I am a feminist, regardless of my refusal to submit to the movement, let me just say– no means no.